Penn State By The Numbers

Despite the fact that PSU has only played terrible opponents thus far, the Lions could not look better.

The offense is scoring 55.3 pts./game. Not total, PER GAME! This offensive renaissance has been led by Evan "Rolls" Royster and his insane stats. He barely gets any carries because the offense has been so potent early in games. However, consider that Evan Royster is averaging:

102 yds/game
8.05 yds/carry
TD/6.3 Carries

Yeah, that is 1 TD every 6.3 carries. That is absurd. Royster is only averaging 12.6 carries per game. Like I said, absurd.

The Defense, while I haven't completely bought into, has looked pretty good also giving up only 12.3 pts./game. The defense has been similarly stout against the run giving up 193 yards. No, not per game. 193 yds total. Over three games. That is under 65 yds/game. However, the Lions have trouble against the pass having given up 558 passing yards so far.

I'm not sure if the relatively soft passing defense can be explained away by teams having to pass far more often in an attempt to catch the Lions or if this is a more sinister trend. Could the secondary be horrible? The stats seem to indicate that it is the former not the later. Opposing offenses are averaging only 5.2 yds/attempt and have thrown 4 Ints. to only 2 Tds. So, I'm going to go with the PSU secondary being surprisingly awesome despite the departure of J-King.

There is also the lurking spectre of Evans and Koroma who, I think, will be back in uniform by the Illinois game. This should increase the pass rush, and therefore, PSU efficacy against the pass.

THESE NUMBERS HAVE ME DANGEROUSLY FIRED UP!

GO STATE! BEAT TEMPLE